1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pen point structure and also to a fountain pen equipped with the pen point structure. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with a pen point structure comprising a body, which is novel in both forming material and shape, and also with a fountain pen equipped with the pen point structure.
2) Description of the Related Art
As conventional writing or drawing tools making use of ink, a variety of tools are known including dip-and-write pens, fountain pens, ball-point pens, felt-tip pens and the like.
Among these, dip-and-write pens have a pen point made of a metal, glass or the like and are suited particularly as means for writing or drawing (hereinafter collectively referred to as "writing" for the sake of brevity) slender and fine letters or lines (hereinafter collective referred to as "letters" for the sake of brevity).
A dip-and-write pen is, however, accompanied by the inconvenience that, whenever writing letters, its pen point must be dipped in ink to have the ink adhered on the pen point prior to writing letters and, due to the limited amount of the ink which can. be adhered there, many letters cannot be written by a single dip. It is also accompanied by the inconvenience that writing is feasible only with its pen point directed in a specific direction. Further, a so-called glass pen having a glass-made pen point is accompanied by the problem that the glass-made pen point is more susceptible to breakage compared to a metal-made pen point.
In contrast, a fountain pen equipped with an ink reservoir such as an ink cartridge or a fountain pen filler allows to write a number of fine letters. It is, however, accompanied by the problems that it is costly due to the use of a noble metal such as gold or silver in its pen point and, similarly to the dip-and-write pen, it permits writing only with its pen point directed in a specific direction.
On the other hand, felt-tip pens which have been finding wide-spread utility in recent years use a pen point formed of a porous synthetic resin, and the porous pen point is soaked with ink to permit writing. A felt-tip pen is therefore an economical and convenient writing tool which permits writing irrespective of the direction of its pen point. Due to the use of the porous synthetic resin, however, the pen point is soft and frail. It is therefore necessary to increase the thickness of the pen point to some extent, whereby it is difficult to write fine letters with the felt-tip pen. The pen point is also prone to deformation and breakage in the course of its use over a long time, leading to the problem that it cannot be used to write many fine letters.